Welcome to the crazy season.
Virginia's Jarred Reuter will transfer, per a source. Two years of eligibility remaining.
This bit of attrition comes as no surprise. Jarred finished the season behind Isaiah Wilkins, Jack Salt, Mamadi Diakite, and various four guard alignments on the depth chart, seeing double-digit minutes just five times in the 2017 portion of the schedule and passing 10 minutes just twice in games that weren’t out of hand. The logjam only promised to get worse in 2018, with Jay Huff becoming eligible and DeAndre Hunter (who CTB just mentioned on Monday as a player with potential to score from the post) becoming eligible.
Reuter appeared to be just a little over his head (both literally?—?as a post player measuring at a generous 6'7'’— and figuratively) in the ACC. At his height, he needed a combination of brute strength and elite quickness and springs to survive. With his so-so athleticism, he needed to own Michael Ojo’s physique to carve out space around the basket. Unfortunately, he was neither fleet of foot or seven foot three and struggled as a result.
Reuter couldn’t consistently find daylight around the rim and to secure rebounds against elite competition?—?the teams with larger, more athletic bigs. His slowish feet made him a risky play defensively when teams went small or screened him onto a guard. Hailed as a smart passer with good vision, he never got comfortable enough on the floor to show it, logging 18 assists to 26 turnovers (and a very-high-for-a-big 23.4% turnover rate) for the season.
We will always have the crucial 11 points Jarred put up in our win over Cal in December 2015, Brad Soderberg’s comparison of Reuter to Georges Niang, and my preseason hopes that he’d take care of our defensive rebounding needs.
I anticipate he’ll find a home at a mid-major, where he’ll use his great feet, ability to box out, and soft touch around the basket to put up 14 and eight on a regular basis and parlay that into a career overseas if he wants to pursue it. This is the kind of transfer that serves both team and player well; I wish Jarred nothing but success wherever he ends up.
